Permanent Earthday(s)

Sterling has become the seventh and final town from the area to offer formal support for the establishments of a permanent waste disposal site in West Boylston.

The effort, led by Wachusett Earthday stalwart Colleen Abrams, would give residents from the participating towns, which include Princeton, Paxton, Rutland, West Boylston, Boylston, Holden and Sterling, a place to bring hard-to-dispose-of items like household paints and chemical products. The facility would also handle recycled materials like paper, plastic and glass.

For 14 years, Wachusett Earthday has held annual collections in Holden, which drew as many as 1,200 cars in a day. The collections provided a rare opportunity for folks to safely discard the stuff cluttering their basements and garages, as workers from waste disposal companies dressed in space-age suits and masks accepted the toxic materials.

Creating a permanent site has long been a goal of Wachusett Earthday, and the group is applying for funding from several private and public sources, including the Department of Environmental Protection, to make the facility a reality.

Those familiar with Abrams' work for Earthday and Wachusett Greenways knows she's a person of positive action who does nothing half-way. Eventually, the group will be approaching the towns to assist with the start-up costs to launch the disposal site. While the expense to each town is not known, on the face of it, creating this facility is a wise investment that will have tangible benefit for the citizenry and the environment.